Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a machine tool equipped with a spindle for rotatably driving a workpiece and a tool mount having a plurality of edged tools, and more specially relates to an improvement of an arrangement structure of the spindle and the tool mount in which dimensions of the machine tool is made more compact in the left and right direction and the up and down direction.
Description of the Related Art
The following description of related art sets forth the inventors' knowledge of related art and certain problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
As a machine tool of this type, conventionally, there is known a small-scale lathe disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 4741351 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document). In the conventional lathe, the spindle is horizontally arranged and the workpiece gripping portion (chuck) is arranged so as to face the operator side, and the tool mount is arranged on the upper or lower side of the spindle, and the tools are arranged facing toward the operator side. That is, in this conventional lathe, the spindle and the tool mount are arranged on the same side so as to overlap in the up and down direction.
In the abovementioned machine tool, depending on a circumstance, etc., in a case in which a machining line is constituted by a plurality of machine tools, there is a demand to make dimensions of the machine tool more compact in the up and down direction and the left and right direction.
In the conventional small-scale lathe described in the aforementioned Patent Document, since the tool mount is arranged on the upper or lower side of the spindle so as to overlap with the spindle, there was a problem that the dimension of the machine in the up and down direction became large. Also, since the tool mount is arranged on the spindle side, there is also a problem that the replacement operation of the tool mount is difficult.
On the other hand, in a case in which the tool mount is arranged on the left side portion or the right side portion of the spindle, it is advantageous in making the dimension of the machine in the up and down direction more compact, but the demand to make the dimension of the machine more compact in the left and right direction cannot be met. Thus, the problem that the replacement operation of the tool mount is difficult remains.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. For example, certain features of the preferred described embodiments of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages and/or providing certain advantages, such as, e.g., disadvantages and/or advantages discussed herein, while retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.